Memory, War, and Translation: David McKay on The Remembered Soldier by Anjet Daanje
A chat with David McKay
In this episode of The Big Book Project, host Lori Feathers is joined by acclaimed translator David McKay to explore The Remembered Soldier, the haunting and deeply psychological novel by Anjet Daanje, newly released in English by New Vessel Press.
This episode unpacks the long journey of bringing The Remembered Soldier from a small regional publisher in the Netherlands to international acclaim—and finally, to English-speaking readers. David shares what drew him to this remarkable work, the challenges of translating its dreamlike prose, and how the novel’s layered structure slowly unravels its mysteries.
📚 The Remembered Soldier follows a WWI Belgian soldier found wounded and nameless in a Ghent asylum. Claimed by a woman who says she is his wife, he’s thrust into a fragile new life that forces him to question everything—his identity, her memories, and even reality itself.
💡 In This Episode:
The real-life inspiration behind the soldier's condition and asylum ads
The psychological tension of memory, identity, and trust
Daanje’s radical narrative style and sentence structure
How trauma and war echo in everyday rituals
The literary legacy of Daanje's work and her next novel, The Song of Stork and Dromedary
This conversation is a deep dive into what makes The Remembered Soldier so unforgettable—and why readers and book clubs alike will be talking about it for years to come.
🔹 The Big Book Project is a guided reading journey through literary masterpieces. Subscribe for weekly deep dives into complex narratives and their cultural significance.
Links and Resources:
The Big Book Project on Substack
Follow on Instagram
Watch on Youtube
